diff --git a/src/queue.ts b/src/queue.ts
index 5ccb4e0..e674f14 100644
--- a/src/queue.ts
+++ b/src/queue.ts
@@ -92,13 +92,13 @@ export class Queue<
   protected stats: QueueStats;
 
   /** Wrap the payload in a JSON encoding */
-  static encodePayload(p: unknown) {
+  static encodePayload(this: void, p: unknown) {
     return JSON.stringify({ _: p });
   }
 
   /** Decode the payload, stripping away the outer JSON encoding */
-  static decodePayload<T>(s: string | null) {
-    return JSON.parse(s ?? "{}")._ as T;
+  static decodePayload<T>(this: void, s: string | null | unknown) {
+    return JSON.parse((s as string) ?? "{}")._ as T;
   }
 
   constructor(driver: Driver, name: string, options?: QueueOptions) {
@@ -117,6 +117,12 @@ export class Queue<
       },
       statInterval:
         options?.statInterval === 0 ? 0 : options?.statInterval ?? 5,
+      decodePayload:
+        options?.decodePayload ??
+        (this.constructor as typeof Queue).decodePayload,
+      encodePayload:
+        options?.encodePayload ??
+        (this.constructor as typeof Queue).encodePayload,
     };
 
     // initialize stats
@@ -242,7 +248,7 @@ export class Queue<
         ref: v.ref ?? v4(),
         ack: null,
         visible: begin,
-        payload: Queue.encodePayload(v.payload),
+        payload: this.opts.encodePayload(v.payload),
         attempts: {
           tries: 0,
           max: v.retries === 0 ? 0 : v.retries ?? 5,
@@ -422,7 +428,7 @@ export class Queue<
             driver: this.driver,
             name: this.name,
             doc,
-            payload: Queue.decodePayload<TData>(doc.payload),
+            payload: this.opts.decodePayload<TData>(doc.payload),
             handler,
             emitter: this.events,
             visibility,
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index 831c395..29155c3 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ export interface QueueOptions {
    * seconds. Defaults to `5`
    */
   statInterval?: number;
+  decodePayload: <T>(payload: unknown) => T;
+  encodePayload: (payload: unknown) => unknown;
 }
 
 export interface ProcessorConfig<C> {
@@ -131,7 +133,7 @@ export interface QueueDoc {
   /** If a job is marked dead, this will contain the error information */
   error?: string;
   /** The job's payload. If an object or object-like value is passed, it will be passed through JSON.stringify */
-  payload: string | null;
+  payload: string | null | unknown;
   /** Information on the number of attempts and max allowed */
   attempts: {
     /** The current attempt number */